CONFESSORS
O SHEPHERD of the sheep,
High Priest of things to come,
Who didst in grace thy servant keep,
And take him safely home:
2 Accept our song of praise
For all his holy care,
His zeal unquenched through length of days,
The trials that he bare.
3 Chief of thy faithful band,
He held himself the least,
Though thy dread keys were in his hand,
O everlasting Priest.
4 So, trusting in thy might,
He won a fair renown;
So, waxing valiant in the fight,
He trod the lion down;
5 Then rendered up to thee
The charge thy love had given.
And passed away thy face to see
Revealed in highest heaven.
6 On all our bishops pour
The Spirit of thy grate;
That, as he won the palm of yore
So they may run their race;
7. That when this life is done,
They may with him adore
The ever-blessed Three in One,
In bliss for evermore.
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